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75 cents WlNSTON-SALEM GREENSBORO H I Ci H POINT Vol. XXVII No. 20
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Photo by Paul Collins
Necole Ross said that a search by law enforcement officers of her
home terrorized and humiliated her.
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Woman says officers wrongfully searched her house
BY PAUL COLLINS
fHE CHRONICU _
Necole Ross of" 520 W. 17th
Street said that a search by law
enforcement officers of her home
on Dec. 30 was wrong and left her
terrorized and humiliated. She
said officers said they were look
ing for while liquor, but they
found none.
According to law enforcement
officials, the search was conduct
ed by Forsyth Municipal ABC
law enforcement officers, assisted
by Winston-Salem police.
Ross said that on Dec. 30
about 4 p.m. she heard stumbling
on the porch to her house. It was
the police and they told her to
"open up. open up." she said.
"1 said, 'I'm coming. I'm com
ing,"' Ross recalled in an inter
view Sunday in the law offices of
her attorneys, Kennedy, Kennedy.
Kennedy and Kennedy, LLP.
She said that before she could
get to the door, the officers began
prying open the door with a crow
bar-type device. She said officers
damaged the lock on her door
when they pried open the door.
She said eight or nine officers
came in her house. Three or four
of the officers had their semiau
tomatic guns drawn and pointed
at her, she said.
She said some of the officers
had SWAT team 011 clothing
items they were wearing.
Some officers were in uniform
and some were plain clothes, she
said.
She said. "They told me to
hold my hands up."
She said there were no female
officers in the home and that a
male officer frisked her, including
touching her breasts and but
tocks.
She said she was told to sit
down, and a couple of officers
stood over her while other offi
cers conducted a search of her
home.
She said she was told that offi
cers were looking for white
liquor.
A search warrant (applied for
by Forsyth Municipal ABC law
enforcement officers) says that,
within the previous seven days,
Forsyth Municipal ABC had
received information from a con
fidential informant and officers
with the Winston-Salem Police
Department "that a drinkhouse is
being operated at 520 W. 17th
Street. Winston-Salem."
The search warrant said that,
within the last 72 hours, the ABC
sent a confidential and reliable
informant to the house at 520 W.
17th Street to confirm the infor
mation. The search warrant said
that the informant "was checked
prior to being sent to 520 East
17th Street, and found not to pos
sess nor be under the influence of
any impairing substance." The
informant said that while in the
house the informant purchased
an amount of alcoholic beverages
from "a black male approximate
ly 60 years of age, tall, light,
brown eyes, with a medium to
dark complexion," the search
warrant says.
The search warrant says this
informant "has provided infor
mation to members of Forsyth
.XV. Search .... A2
Still
Overcoming
Locals march for King, call for change
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
The Martin Luther King Jr.
holiday tradition of marching
from Ml. Zion Baptist Church
to the M.C. Bentort Convention
Center continued Monday with
hundreds of locals braving fog
and drizzle to honor the slain
civil rights leader and continue
t his legacy.
The marchers sang songs
like "We Shall Overcome" and
shouted rhythmic chants about
freedom as they made their way
up Martin Luther King Jr.
Drive and down Fifth Street.
Many in the colossal crowd
took up the chant "free Darryl
Hunt" near the end of the
march. Hunt is serving time for
murder, many believe unjustly.
Others shouted out their disap
pointment with the election
mess in Florida: sf^ne even car
ried bumper stickers claiming
the election w;as stolen.
Many social/civic organiza
tions participated in the march,
carrying signs for their various
causes as they walked. Local
Boy Scout troops, the Black
Leadership Roundtable and the
pro-gun control group. Million
? Mom March, were among the
groups that marched.
Gail Davis marched with-a
group from the Unitarian-Uni
versalist Fellowship of Win
ston-Salem.
"This is an important day
for the community, and I mean
the community," she said.
"Martin Luther King Jr. didn't
just stand for black rights: he
stood for human rights."
Davis wore a sticker sup
porting gun control and a pin
supporting gay rights.
"All feel that no one is a sec
ond-class citizen," she said
when asked about the pin."
Davis said she believes in her
heart that if King were alive
today, he would be fighting for
the rights of all oppressed peo
ple. including gays and lesbians.
"I don't think that he would
stand for discrimination against
any people," she said.
At the convention center, the
crowd was treated to the annual
Noon Hour Commemoration in
honor of King. The two
decades-old event is sponsored
by WAAA Radio, the Winston
Salem NAACP and the city's
human relations commission.
The theme of this year's
commemoration was "Democ
racy = Freedom: The Right to
??l . m
The crowd ends its march at the doars of the Benton Convention Center and listens as they are
given a pep talk before sitting down for the Noon Hour Commemoration.
Gecrqfc W. & Jet:
. cTnt
Photos by Kevin Walker
An unidentified man during the MLK march uses a bumper sticker
to voice his opposition to the recent presidential election.
Vote. Much talk at the event
focused on the 2000 presidential
election and the strange turn it
took in the Sunshine State.
Mutter Evans, owner and
general manager of WAAA,
warned the crowd that although
a new millennium has arrived,
old problems linger. African
Americans must stay on their
p's and q's and make sure that
the nation does not take steps??
backward in the areas of civil
rights, hate crimes and racial
profiling, Evans said.
"What happened in the pres
idential election in Novem
ber....should make you more
determined to vote every time
there is an election." she said.
Tables were set up at the
convention center U? register
voters. Evans told the crowd
that registering to vote is one of
the best ways one could honor
the legacy of King.
Bill Tatum. president of the
local NAAC'P. spoke briefly
about the state of blacks in the
city. He said while African
Americans are richer and more
educated than ever before, the
times 'have only somewhat
changed. Tatum pointed to the
trouble James Wynn has had
being confirmed for the U.S.
Circuit Court as an example of
the many hurdles that blacks
still have to clear.
Local activist and former
NAAC'P president Patrick Hair
ston was singled out at the event
for his efforts over the decades
to keep King's dream alive. In a
brief speech. Hairston echoed
what Evans and Tatum said.
"We-have not overcome," he
said to scattered applause. "We
must keep working."
Look for more stories about
MLK events inside A seelion and
C seelion.
New group has big
plans for East Winston
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
fHl CHRONICLE
East Winston got a friend late
last year to help it in its efforts to
keep up with redevelopment activ
ities in other parts of Winston
Salem.
Several leaders with a vested
interest in the area formed the
Nehemiah Initiative, which is in
the process of finalizing an agenda
for jump-starting economic and
residential development in East
Winston.
A group made up mostly of
clergy and community leaders
decided to form the group after the
passage of the city bond package
last November. Some of the
money earmarked for East Win
ston will help with several ongoing
developments. But during the
group's coming out event early this
week, the message was that the
bond money is not enough to i
make (he kinds of changes that
need to be made.
A panel that included business
and local government leaders dis
cussed ways to spur economic
activity and redevelopment in East
Winston at the Adam's Mark hotel
Monday. The event was symboli
cally held on the Martin Luther
King Jr. holiday; organizers said
King's vision of unity is relevant in
terms of development in East
Winston.
"It takes all of us," said the
Rev. Michael Williams, pastor of
See Nehemiah on 44
Herman Lane escorts Novella Drake to her surprise birthday party.
'Mama Drake,' 80, still
shaping young minds
BYT. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONICLE
Her friends and family say
teaching has been in Novella
Drake's blood since she was in the
womb.
Her longing to touch and
shape young minds is as strong as
ever more than 80 years later.
Fittingly, Drake celebrated her
80th birthday last week in a
school. Her extended family at
Forest Park Elementary School
held a surprise party for "Mama
Drake" after classes ended for the
day. The staff spent the better part
of the day preparing for the party,
preparing an elaborate money tree
for Drake containing 80 one dollar 1
bills, retrieving a congratulatory'
letter from Mayor Jack Cavanagh
and hiding members of Drake's
immediate family so that they
would not be spotted by the birth
day girl.
"She doesn't have an inkling
that this is going to happen," Fan
nie Williams. Drake's younger sis
ter. said as she hid in the principal's
office.
Williams said teaching was the
natural profession for her sister.
Their mother was a teacher;
Drake followed in her mother's
footsteps when she graduated with
S, Drake ? A9
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